Your posting is about the same as
AMA question 93 responses a few minutes ago.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9792561/tm.htm
ORIGINAL: arcticflyer
I would like to bring up a topic for discussion that I think really needs to be addressed by the AMA and that is FLYING FIELD ACCESS. Please correct me if I am wrong but it appears that most club fields are sanctioned by the AMA.
No, the clubs are CHARTED by the AMA.
These fields in many cases are in existence because of the AMA's organization, flying rules, and liability protection of its members. Many landowners and public Parks Departments probably would not allow a flying field without this minimal oversight and the liability protection. SOOOO without the AMA they would not exist!!!
Possibly correct, yet I believe clubs exist and many would still continue to exist, AMA Charter or not, due to the efforts of the club members. I belonged to several different clubs from Houston, TX, to Savannah, GA, to Laredo, TX, and to Chicagoland, IL before the AMA Charter became the socially acceptable thing to do. AMA definitely has made things better and easier, yet the clubs would (could?) have survived. Can you prove differently?
With that said, let me address my ''frustration'' for lack of a better word over my topic..''Flying Field Access''. I am an AMA member and a member of a great club in Maryland. However, my daughters live in another STATE and both of them live within fifteen minutes of (2) AMA sanctioned flying fields that are listed on the AMA web site.
I visited one of the clubs recently and talked to some of the members who seemed to be great guys. I asked about AMA guests flying at the field and was told that guests are allowed with a sponsor and according to their club rules can only fly (3) times a season without joining the club. I have run into the same restriction at several other clubs with some minor variations.
Here is my beef as a ''DIEHARD'' flyer........If I spend (5) days at my daughters house (which is only a couple of times a year)....(1) I WILL have planes in the car, (2) I will fly MORE than three times. The question is... do I get to fly at a sanctioned AMA flying field or do I have to fly at a ''rogue'' field or park where there is a greater chance of coming into contact with people, ''KIDS'', pets and.....??????...you get the picture.
First let me address the sponsor issue....I don't live there so how in the world can I get a ''sponsor''?....and what is a sponsor?....(sounds like who do you know, not what do you know) and what if no one is at the field when I want to fly.
Why did you not find out who would be a "sponsor" from the folks you spoke with? Nothing like asking those that know the CORRECT answers? [sm=49_49.gif]
Second....(3) times in a year?.... give me a break! Most clubs that I have had experience with only have between 10% to 20%(rare), that are diehard flyers. So, one more guy for a few days would not get in the way.
Now....I don't want to join 3 or 4 clubs and SHOULDN'T have to just to fly at an AMA field as an AMA member. If money is the issue (and I think it is) with this whole have to join after 3 or 4 times I am willing to pay a landing fee to fly and submit to all of the local rules as a guest at an AMA field as an AMA member.
Then if not willing to pay the club dues to fly there, then you don't belong there. Do you play Golf? Here in Houston, $75 to $100 for 18 holes is the standard DAILY rate for sport golf green fees. Ya' wanna' play ya' gotta pay! Sport RCers are generally a very CHEAP group of people. If money is NOT the object as you have stated, then join the clubs. Then you can play as you want to.
I belong to 4 clubs. My main club, I am a LIFE member as well as a number of retirees are. The other clubs, I joined because I like the people and I fly at events they host. One club I seldom fly at, but if I do go there to fly, I have paid the dues and am a member therefore I do not have to feel guilty because I contribute almost nothing to the heavy maintenance and care they perform for their facility.
I think this should be a part of process for a field to be sanctioned by the AMA. Just a thought as it is tough to travel and fly at a safe place!
Maybe it would be if the field was "SANCTIONED" by the AMA. However there ain't no such critter so get over it.
CHARTER: a written instrument from the authorities of a society creating a lodge or branch
SANCTION: a mechanism of social control for enforcing a society's standards. explicit or official approval, permission, or ratification.
Now ref. the 3 days or whatever. At Jetero, Joe Blow shows up. Fast learner, after 3 visits he is making landings but not safe for flying alongside others. After taking an instructor's (a guy that pays club dues and donates his precious earthly bound time for someone else's benefit) time and patience, Joe the Blower hauls behinder and goes out to some outlaw place and proceeds to fly as he desires. I have absolutely ZERO respect for those that do so.
AS A CLUB AND INTRO PILOT INSTRUCTOR, I refuse to teach landings or go beyond 3 sessions unless the student joins the club.
I do not waste my precious time with spoiled freeloaders that have the emotions/thinking of spoiled children. SPOILING is reserved for my grandchildren and I do plenty of that.
How about this example of a club Bylaw?
[b]SECTION 7
(September 27, 2007)[/b]
No person, as a guest, may engage in flight activity at the Club more than three (3) times in any
consecutive twelve (12) calendar month period.
Exceptions to the above stated twelve-month rule are permitted, and those exceptions are limited
to the following:
1. The Guest actually resides outside one hundred (100) straight-line statute miles from
the Club's Flying Facility, and is a current member of the AMA. and is a member of
another currently effective AMA Chartered Club.
Such person may participate at the
Club for up to and including, but not more than eight (8) days per calendar year, as a
specific Guest of any/all Jetero member(s).
2. Any current Club member that has a guest-in-house (regardless of the actual
sleeping quarters) may allow the guest to participate at the field with the member, if such
guest is an AMA member, for a period not more than twenty (20
consecutive days, or 2 periods of ten (10) consecutive days in any calendar year.
The limit periods may not be interchanged, or divided.
3. Attendance at Club advertised events and public fly-ins are not considered days for
the guest limit.
4. Individuals, whether AMA members or not and not a current member of Jetero RC Club, Inc.,
while actively participating in a Jetero RC Club, Inc. sponsored portion of AMA’s TAG
program, will not be restricted to current guest limitations during those days that are part of
Jetero’s administered TAG operations.